Bond 23 Not Gonna Happen. Not Yet Anyway

Shocking, but not really considering all the legal wrangling going on with the franchise recently, James Bond 23 has been shelved “indefinitely”. Not good news for any of us who enjoy gawping at the man’s enviable wardrobe.

Without getting lost in our dusty legal dictionary, it appears that the main problem lies with Bond’s financial backers MGM. Having put themselves up for sale late last year, the company’s shareholders are currently in the process of arguing to accept the best offer (i.e. take the money and run) or hold out in hopes of keeping the studio afloat. In other words, they’re in limbo.

“Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on ‘Bond 23’ indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of Bond 23.”

Hmm…Does anyone see this as a little bit of history repeating? A not entirely dissimilar situation occurred after Timothy Dalton signed as Bond for The Living Daylights in 1987. Soon followed License to Kill in ’89 and then nothing for six years, until Pierce Brosnan finally got his shot and saved the series from near extinction with GoldenEye.

Absolutely this is not the end of OO7, but it might be the end of Daniel Craig in the part. If the money men do not get their act together soon, he may be able to leave his contract and stroll off to try other things, and isn’t that what all Bond actors long to do anyway?

Forgive the conjecture, just colour us upset that when we finally get to see James Bond in a Tom Ford ‘Harrington’ and white Levi Sta-Prest, he disappears from theatres for at least the foreseeable future. Some folk might be even be happy, however, as Quantum of Solace (2008) was underwhelmingly received, if not fiscally then certainly critically. Plus there is whole question of Louise Frogley’s costume approach being considered too casual for the character, as those Levi’s really did upset people.

For our money, keep Craig, keep Frogley and keep the casual. Just resist printed tees or track bottoms and we can contently wait for the bean counters to do their thing. MGM better not sit tight for too long though, Bourne 4 could go from ‘now unlikely’ to ‘suddenly greenlit’ very quickly indeed.